“When should I ride in Galloway?”
We often have enquiries to come on our holidays that end with a sentence that will go something like “ what weeks do you have the best weather? “ I thought of this over the New Year as we rode along the coast road beyond Kirkcudbright. “ This is better than a summer ride “. I said it out loud as the sun was shining, almost zero wind and perhaps I was on a festive high. It was one of the very best rides of the year, if you were dressed head to toe in the worlds finest technical clothing and had a flask with barista level coffee and artisan cake in your bag. Dear reader, you would have loved it!
I am never going to say “ what about the week commencing December 27 for your holiday with us? “ Which is a shame, as you would have loved it this year. We went on a gravel ride that began with temperatures of -6’c, and it was a stunning 40 mile day of pure joy that you would have loved too.
We ended up doing more bike miles recently than in July - there are horrible apps that tell you these things. At the moment I can look out of the window here and see snow on the hills at a crisp horizon off to the North that arcs around to the West in a row of snow covered tops. Beautiful Galloway can be epic.
When it gets to zero Celsius you pull out the gravel bikes. Big squashy tyres can find some traction where you struggle to walk. Animals increase their tolerance of people when conditions are harsh. We stopped for cake and coffee from our bags overlooking Silver Flowe and Robins were around our feet. They have a challenging life so far away from our garden feeders and hats off to them, they are tough.
We will switch from winter road bikes to gravel bikes depending on conditions, which is something that you can do here. We have world-class gravel and road options right here from our door.
We decided this year to offer a 50/50 holiday package alongside our purely gravel or road offerings. We have a great fleet of gravel bikes for you to use. (see: bike hire)
Have a look at the Road & Gravel tour webpage, even if it’s only for the images we have put up there and start imagining.
Silver Flow - A UNESCO designated Biosphere.